Tigers start slow, but clobber Commodores 24-7

Tim Rodrigue

10/31/2004

Against the Commodores, the general consensus of LSU's quarterbacks was it was better to conquer from land than by air in a 24-7 win.

"We wanted to run the ball today,
but we also wanted to have balance in the offense and I was a little concerned
we didn't throw it more," Fighting Tigers' coach Nick Saban said."We had a lot of run-pass checks called
and we ended up running the ball probably six or eight times in the first half
that could have been passes had they lined up where the pass was there.But we did run the ball effectively, and
that was a plus.

"I think the offensive line did a
very good job in the game, so we're hopeful we'll continue to make progress
there and improve in the passing game."

Saban commented that the strategy
utilized against Vanderbilt (2-6, 1-4) is one he wanted to use since the outset
of the season.

"Marcus Randall kinda proved he
played his best game, one of his best games of the year coming off the bench at
Florida,"
Saban said."We thought it would be
good to give JaMarcus an opportunity to play some in this game.I always feel better in the game, all
year long in every game including Auburn, I've always felt better with Marcus
coming off the bench and having him to be that guy."

Randall's first completion of the
night, LSU's second, proved to be the final snap of a six-play, 81-yard drive
the Fighting Tigers (6-2, 3-2) began the second half with.It came one down after Alley Broussard
rushed for nine yards on a fourth-and-one to keep the drive alive.

While Randall called his own number
eight times for 68 yards, Alley Broussard's nine attempts for 80 yards and
Joseph Addai's 14 carries for 77 yards paced an LSU running game that rolled up
273 yards.That averaged out to 6.2
yards per rush.

"Some of the bootlegs their end was
getting wide, I guess they were trying to stop us from rolling out," Randall
said. "Like some of the third downs
they were dropping eight people, so they were dropping back into like I think an
eight-man drop, so I mean they were covering all the zones up
basically."

Trying to establish the ground game
was the intention according to Broussard.

"That was our gameplan, to come in
and run the ball more consistent," he said."That's what we practiced all

week, so we came out and ran the
ball."

On just the fifth pass attempt for
the Fighting Tigers, Randall hit Craig Davis in the endzone with a throw the
receiver had to come back for.It
covered 34 yards and came at the 11:35 mark in the third quarter.

Gaudet added the PAT to put the
Fighting Tigers ahead 17-7, and more big plays followed to set in motion the
fast sinking of the Commodores' ship.

Davis would end up leading LSU's receiving
corps with two receptions for 47 yards.Addai had two receptions as well that accounted for 11
yards.

The only other Fighting Tigers to
get their hands on the ball through the air were tight end David Jones with one
reception for 33 yards and Green, who had a single reception for 11
yards.

Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler
was knocked out of the game on Vanderbilt's next possession with a neck injury,
and Green made things worse for the Commodores by returning a punt 65 yards for
his first special teams touchdown of the season to make the gulf separating the
two teams wider with 7:11 remaining in the third.

"My neck feels a little stiff from
that late hit in the third quarter," Cutler said."It just pressed my neck straight

down and I felt numb for a
second."

Cutler's night ended with a
10-of-20 showing for 111 yards, and his replacement, Steven Bright, would
complete 7-of-9 attempts for 75 yards.

Marlon White paced Vanderbilt's
wide receivers with four catches for 72 yards, while Brandon Smith added four
receptions of his own fro 50 yards.

LSU's big plays in the second half
helped bring about the end of the Commodores' hopes after Vanderbilt had
seemingly gotten back into the game just before the close of the second quarter
with an extensive drive.

"I felt like we had some
opportunities to stay in the game, and the put return was a huge play for them,"
Commodores' head coach Bobby Johnson said."It sort of demoralized us, and the long pass too.We were in good shape but we didn't make
the plays.Those are opportunities
that we need to take advantage of against a very good football team to have a
chance to win and we didn't do it."

For Saban, Green's punt return
proved to be something LSU hasn't had a lot of this season – a special teams
play that positively affected the outcome.

"It was great to see special teams
have an impact on the game," Saban said."I mean it's finally a big play on special teams and we also had a couple
of other returns that we were close to breaking.It's our goal to gain a first down and
field position every time we punt return."

The Vanderbilt vessel simply
splintered apart from there with a lost fumble, a turnover on downs, and three
more punts on five drives that accounted for an average of 16 yards per
possession.

With Russell at the helm to begin
the game, the Fighting Tigers started from their 31 yardline and behind Addai
eating up most of the yards managed to score first.

An 11-play, 60-yard drive capped by
a 26-yard Ryan Gaudet field goal saw Addai get three carries and rack up 28
yards.LSU actually squandered an
opportunity to put up more points when the possession stalled inside the
Commodores' 10 yardline.

Setting up Gaudet's kick
inadvertently was a reverse from Green to Xavier Carter that ended in a loss on
third and goal from the five yardline.

After a couple of penalties forced
the Commodores to punt twice, LSU took over on Vanderbilt's 38 yardline.But the Fighting Tigers managed to
muster only a three-and-out, and failed to take advantage of excellent field
position.

LSU then wasted another opportunity
on their ensuing possession, but this time traveled a long way to do
so.

Broussard moved the Fighting Tigers
from their 11 yardline out to their 43 yardline with a touch of the ball, and
without an attempted pass Russell used his running backs and his own legs to get
LSU down to the Commores' 13 yardline.

It was there that Chris Jackson was
wide left on a 30-yard field goal try, bringing to a closed what had started as
a promising drive.

That possession seemed to light a
fire in Vanderbilt for awhile, as the Commodores drove down to the Fighting
Tigers' 30 yardline before attempting a 47-yard field goal that was blocked by
Jessie Daniels.

Randall then took over the
quarterback position, but LSU fared little better than they had initially with
another three-and-out.A fumbled
option pitch by Kwane Doster recovered by Daniels put the Fighting Tigers at
Vanderbilt's 21 yardline however.

Following an 11-yard touchdown run
by Broussard that was called back because of a holding call, the LSU tailback
covered seven yards on an almost identical run after Randall put the Fighting
Tigers back in striking distance with a 14-yard scamper.

Gaudet added the PAT, and with 6:12
remaining in the first half LSU held a 10-0 lead.

Vanderbilt would finally respond to
the Fighting Tigers' volleys with a drive that lasted 5:04 and all but closed
out the first half.

The Commodores sailed 83 yards on
13 plays, and the final play of the possession proved to be a one-yard dive for
a touchdown by Cutler with 1:03 showing on the clock.

"Defensively I thought we played
pretty well in the game," Saban said."Gave up a couple third downs on their scoring drive right before the
half – five to be exact.That's
something that we're usually pretty good at.

"They did something today, they
stayed in regular people all the time on third down.So in the first half we didn't have
quite as much stuff in sub ready to play against that because the multiple
formations are greater, so we made some halftime adjustments and the kids did a
great job, the players did a great job of picking it up and did a little bit
better job of pressuring the quarterback in the second half."

Four of LSU's five sacks occurred
over the final two quarters of play, and by the end of the night the Fighting
Tigers' defense had amassed 12 tackles for loss.